Sunday, February 11, 2018

LIGHTS ON THE HILL TRUCK STOP

THE AMPOL TRUCK STOP IN GLEN INNES PLAYS HOST TO 2 X BRAMBLES WIDE LOAD SEMIS IN 1977 HAULING EUCLID DUMP TRUCKS SOUTH .THE TRUCKS WAIT WHILE THE DRIVERS REFUEL AT THE ALL NIGHTER . THE FRONT TYRES FOR THE DUMP TRUCKS ARE IN THE DUMP BODY.

A long time ago I started to build a generic Australian Petrol station.With a truck stop style servo ,which would be positioned on a raised section of the layout towards the backboard .Showing some of my truck models in the parking area .Which would be opposite the servo with a road from the back to the front of the layout section with a road over bridge at the front to carry the road over a cutting for the rail line.This was to form a transition between Fraser River Gorge and the town of Ashford

It stayed this way for a long time with the problem of what branding to put on it .ESSO was going to be the winner in my mind.But then I realised you cant get more Australian than Ampol or Golden Fleece.With the latter being in the 70,s the favored place to pull up for a decent feed when on the road with there roadhouse style restaurants,which could be probably called Australia's original fast food chain. Before the American invasion .
The brand of Golden Fleece was owned by H G Sleigh & company from 1947 to 1981 ,when it was acquired by Caltex which led to its brand being removed from the landscape.
Golden Fleece operated rail tankers which served country depots served by rail.Glen Innes being one of these.I don't have many pictures of the depot in operation,but here is one from 8-5-83 before the storage tanks where removed.

And some a bit latter with the storage tanks removed.

This shot is of NTAF GF21 at West Tamworth on the 9-8-83, Bang on my time period.
Beam me back Scotty !
With some very professional sign writing on the ends.

Over Christmas I did some looking on the inter-web for any suitable signage.Which was rewarded by coming across Rakem Emporium ,an Australian outlet which produces petrol station signage and also card stock kits of various buildings. The shop had a set of Golden Fleece signage suitable for my servo.But I wanted the restaurant overhead sign .On contacting the proprietor about this she did up the required signs in no time and sent with my original order.
These signs are not decals but printed on paper,so if you need a particular sign , this would be the place to go. http://rakememporium.com.au/

So now I have a finished servo ready to scenic into place.
I made the flag bunting on brass wire with paper shapes painted to liven it up.And got rid of some OO scale VW I had in the Garage area.
You will also note the Road and Rail Resin ACCO which although just assembled ,has developed a very nasty oil leak.https://www.roadandrailresin.com/

4 comments:

Ultra nice, and certainly no better icon for a servo than the golden ram.

I have memories of a servo at the top of the long climb on the highway at Black Mountain, always had a huge number of trucks parked at the servo and on both sides of the road.

While a bit of a wander from the rail station it always looked the part for a typical country servo near the railway and highway.

I have a GF depot for my layout and look forward to getting it back up in stages this year after the move, wondering if I could copy the photo's of the GF buildings to see how I can work them into the layout.

In my travels during the 60's to various locations, there were several GF road houses that had the ram sign illuminated from the inside of the ram, it certainly was a wonderful sight as you approached from either side.

An old GF servo was on the corner of the rail crossing at Koorawotha, it also sticks in my memory as the late Ian Thornton and myself were following a Sunday goods service to Harden, low on fuel we knew this servo was open but when we got there, the owner was about to shut up shop and the only pump he had still working was and old side handled pump where you had to pump the fuel up by hand, each action brought up 1/4 gallon, we put enough in to get us safely to Young. Some bush memories that stick. That servo no longer exists.

Hi Colin.1/ yes you can use the pics to help what your doing.2/ the ram on the top of the bowsers is still a work in progress.I have had a suggestion of using N scale sheep.which might work ,or plan B would be carving them out of a grain of rice.3/ As for the pump bowser you have used .you must be really old, I bet you can remember when you had to wind the windows up in a car by hand ! Thanks Rohan

About Me

I was born at a very early age.Learning to walk ,talk and ultimately to control my bodily functions.Which appears to be slowly slipping away from me.
Maturing into a ruggedly handsome man.Some would say almost to perfect for my own good.
I have an identical twin brother,The evil one who does lots of bad and stupid things ,and the trouble is lots of people assume this is me .But its actually my identical twin,I curse the day he was born.